I saw many new games, but I suspect that most (or all) of them are easily skippable. It did warm my heart to see a bunch of “Play this new game, let us know what you think, and you might win a copy” going unplayed, because they didn’t seem any good at a glance.
However, one game that did catch my eye is Giants Moving Tiny Furniture, which has a bunch of small cute furniture and you (and team-mates) have to move around on top of the box. I only watched ten seconds, but it seemed like a delightful idea, sort of like a pop-art Jenga. From glancing at the BGG page, after I left, it sounds like Welcome to the Dungeon (which I haven’t played but picked up a copy at the bazaar) where there are things to do and you bid on less and less time (etc) to finish it.
Oh, and you have to use only your pinky? In teams?
I arguably could have played more games, but 2 days is enough for me.
Update — More Thoughts
There were quite a few new “ginormous overproduced games” being played. (At least) one of which was being promoted by the creator/designer/publisher, but they just all gave off the feel of “You wouldn’t look at this twice if it was cardboard chits, and it you shouldn’t look at it twice just because it doesn’t.” There were a number of boxes that looked to be a cubic foot (roughly). Just hulking square boxes taking up space.
Amusingly, one of those was … Food Chain Magnate Deluxe Edition! But that box at least still has the retro 50s artwork that might make people take a second glance instead of “Pew Pew Space-ships!” or whatever. I keep saying I need to put FCM back into my bag (although the new Indonesia is getting good reps this last month), but I’m happy with the old edition, which takes half the space even if I bring the expansion box.
Speaking of “Cool!” (that is in fact, not). The organizers piped in “Geek Music” to the venue. By which I mean …. Movie Themes. Oh, its the Imperial March! Lord of the Rings! Harry Potter! Superman! I may be in the minority, but I hate that. The music is fine, but two days of that got old quick. If people want music, they’ll bring it themselves.
It would be rude if I took out my air pods and played X music on speakers because I thought it better fit the mood (whatever that was), unless I asked everyone. Normally I would have just moved away to a quiet area, but the open gaming was pretty much right up against the speakers. The local game store also does it, and I get it for a game store, where most people are wandering in and spending a few minutes browsing (or playing games for a few hours)23, but for two days it gets old fast.
I believe that I read somewhere (probably in Why we Buy by Paco Underhill), that piped in music does lead to more sales, and stores often carefully curate their sounds. So that makes sense even if I personally hate it. But a convention is a pre-sale buy a ticket thing. ︎
Although now that I realize that Underhill makes his living on consulting for this kind of stuff (coupled with the replicability study in psychology) I wonder if that is in fact true, but I suspect enough companies have A/B tested the hell out of that to verify it. ︎
I saw many new games, but I suspect that most (or all) of them are easily skippable. It did warm my heart to see a bunch of “Play this new game, let us know what you think, and you might win a copy” going unplayed, because they didn’t seem any good at a glance.
However, one game that did catch my eye is Giants Moving Tiny Furniture, which has a bunch of small cute furniture and you (and team-mates) have to move around on top of the box. I only watched ten seconds, but it seemed like a delightful idea, sort of like a pop-art Jenga. From glancing at the BGG page, after I left, it sounds like Welcome to the Dungeon (which I haven’t played but picked up a copy at the bazaar) where there are things to do and you bid on less and less time (etc) to finish it.
Oh, and you have to use only your pinky? In teams?
I arguably could have played more games, but 2 days is enough for me.
Update — More Thoughts
There were quite a few new “ginormous overproduced games” being played. (At least) one of which was being promoted by the creator/designer/publisher, but they just all gave off the feel of “You wouldn’t look at this twice if it was cardboard chits, and it you shouldn’t look at it twice just because it doesn’t.” There were a number of boxes that looked to be a cubic foot (roughly). Just hulking square boxes taking up space.
Amusingly, one of those was … Food Chain Magnate Deluxe Edition! But that box at least still has the retro 50s artwork that might make people take a second glance instead of “Pew Pew Space-ships!” or whatever. I keep saying I need to put FCM back into my bag (although the new Indonesia is getting good reps this last month), but I’m happy with the old edition, which takes half the space even if I bring the expansion box.
Speaking of “Cool!” (that is in fact, not). The organizers piped in “Geek Music” to the venue. By which I mean …. Movie Themes. Oh, its the Imperial March! Lord of the Rings! Harry Potter! Superman! I may be in the minority, but I hate that. The music is fine, but two days of that got old quick. If people want music, they’ll bring it themselves.
It would be rude if I took out my air pods and played X music on speakers because I thought it better fit the mood (whatever that was), unless I asked everyone. Normally I would have just moved away to a quiet area, but the open gaming was pretty much right up against the speakers. The local game store also does it, and I get it for a game store, where most people are wandering in and spending a few minutes browsing (or playing games for a few hours)23, but for two days it gets old fast.
I believe that I read somewhere (probably in Why we Buy by Paco Underhill), that piped in music does lead to more sales, and stores often carefully curate their sounds. So that makes sense even if I personally hate it. But a convention is a pre-sale buy a ticket thing. ︎
Although now that I realize that Underhill makes his living on consulting for this kind of stuff (coupled with the replicability study in psychology) I wonder if that is in fact true, but I suspect enough companies have A/B tested the hell out of that to verify it. ︎
Day One’s entry is For Sale …. um, ok. It’s a fine game and all that; but I have no idea why it is a game that “made meaningful contributions to the board game hobby in the areas of innovation, artistry, and impact.”
Day Two is Puerto Rico … OK, this is the “We didn’t put this in the initial class for the reasons you expect, but we are putting it in” day.
Day Four is Love Letter … I like Love Letter and I think it’s a good game. I think it’s a bit wild that a small game from 15 years ago is in before …. lots of other games.
I’ll update this post as I notice the games this week (assuming I do).
Day One’s entry is For Sale …. um, ok. It’s a fine game and all that; but I have no idea why it is a game that “made meaningful contributions to the board game hobby in the areas of innovation, artistry, and impact.”
Day Two is Puerto Rico … OK, this is the “We didn’t put this in the initial class for the reasons you expect, but we are putting it in” day.
Day Four is Love Letter … I like Love Letter and I think it’s a good game. I think it’s a bit wild that a small game from 15 years ago is in before …. lots of other games.
I’ll update this post as I notice the games this week (assuming I do).
Still enjoying The Great British Baking Show as a cozy watch. But even if you don’t watch it, here’s a great phrase — “A total bag of pants” (meaning a disaster). Has entered my lexicon and I’m experimenting with all the “<container> of <garment>” combos. And also watching Prue Leith (an 80 year old proper British Matriarch type, but with an Austin Powers 60’s flair) innocently ask things like “Tell us about your beaver,” or “I am interested in your large nuts” never gets old. Sadly only have a series or two left to watch.
Maybe
The 9th Configuration — An insane 70s movie (although released in early 80) set in a military insane asylum where the inmates apparently have access to a Hollywood prop department to enact whatever crazy stuff they want. Written, Produced and Directed by William Blatty (fresh of The Exorcist) so the studios were willing to let him do whatever he wanted. Some great scenes and mostly great but nonsensical dialogue. I had to watch it in chunks. Definitely a noble failure and not a cookie cutter movie.
Grantchester — A Masterpiece Mystery that is definitely ripping off Father Brown1. (Except that the priest is Anglican? Church of England? In any case, Not Catholic and it’s post WW-II instead of WW-I). But I like Father Brown and this is close enough for me. But as the series goes on it gets less about the mystery of the week and more about the main character(s) being miserable, and lost a fair chunk of the joy2. (Netflix only has the first four of the ten(!) seasons).
In the Mouth of Madness — A (90s) rewatch of which I remembered almost nothing. Attempts to capture Lovecraftian dread, but the execution isn’t quite there. Some genuinely creepy moments but also too reliant on “repeated dream awakenings” and re-used footage. Amazing to think that John Carpenter did this a decade after The Thing, because the monster effects are a step down; less is more would have been so much better here3. But …. any schlock horror movie is elevated by David Warner & Jürgen Prochnow looks very anti-christ-like. Clever ending, but “ah, that’s clever” clever instead of a gut punch. I think it works better if you simply lop off the last few minutes.4
The Long Kiss Goodnight — (90s Rewatch, pt II). Shane Black makes another Shane Black movie. Action movie? Check! Partners who don’t like each other? Check! Banter? Christmastime? Checkity Check! Sadly this isn’t up the the heights that Lethal Weapon started, but its not bad.
Nobody Wants This (S2) — A reasonable ‘comfort food’ romcom/sitcom. Sometimes veers into cringe, but it understands that a romcom/sitcom must be funny (and heartwarming) so that both Mr. and Mrs. Tao will watch.
Under the Skin (book) — Read this after watching the movie (see Sep-Oct). Good, but in a very different way (books can show inner monologues, movies are visual). I think that the near silence of the movie was a good choice, but that necessitated changing the story to make it much more ambiguous. Note — Not for the squeamish.
Wick is Pain — Documentary on the John Wick Franchise. Reasonable if you liked the franchise. What impressed me was seeing stunts that I said “Obvious CGI” in the theater and then discovering that the CGI was only for the environment, not the stunt itself, which was real. (The building fall at the end of John Wick 2)
Maybe Not
Turned Off / Not Recommended
“Oh, Hi!” — I saw this recommended by Marginal Revolution. The plot is that a young couple go on a weekend vacation, find some bondage equipment, he gets tied up and (after sex) reveals that he doesn’t consider this a serious relationship, at which point she leaves him tied up and tries to convince him that she is girlfriend material. BUT nobody is sympathetic. She’s crazy. (It’s established that she considered stabbing her last boyfriend). “Leave him tied up” isn’t played for laughs, and isn’t funny. On the other hand, she’s right. You don’t go on a weekend trip alone after dating for four months and expect her to think it’s a fling. In Re: “Crazy girl” vs “Idiot Boy” I find both guilty. Turned off at the 30 minute mark (or less), tried to continue a few times. Failed. Now re-reading Marginal Revolution I realized that “better than expected retelling of…” isn’t necessarily an endorsement.5
Tenet — This finally showed up on streaming and … man; was Christopher Nolan trolling us the entire time6? “What if I just didn’t have a plot at all, but did as much cool stuff as possible?” Turned off before the hour mark; tried again and couldn’t get through another few minutes. It’s like a Bond movie with truly excellent set pieces and locations. (Off-brand Bond but not skimping on quality). Plus Time-travel special effects. But when you break it open it’s just Nelson Munz “Hah hah!”-ing you, the sucker audience.
OK, its an actual series of books on its own that started a few years ago, and the author’s father was formerly the Archbishop of Canterbury, but still … ︎
After finishing season 4 I realize that part of that was the requirements to switch the lead actors. ︎
Such as the people in an oil painting moving. If they never moved on camera and if you thought they had but weren’t sure, it would have been creepier. ︎
For example — Sam Neill’s character “sees” the carnage in the hallway (a ‘less is more shot’, where you see vague shadows and hear screams), realizes the door keeping him the sanitarium is busted … and then chooses to retreat to his room & close the door. ︎
But then I see it’s on his years best film list, so uh, whatever. ︎
No, mostly he’s pretty good. I guess this was just a misfire. ︎
Still enjoying The Great British Baking Show as a cozy watch. But even if you don’t watch it, here’s a great phrase — “A total bag of pants” (meaning a disaster). Has entered my lexicon and I’m experimenting with all the “<container> of <garment>” combos. And also watching Prue Leith (an 80 year old proper British Matriarch type, but with an Austin Powers 60’s flair) innocently ask things like “Tell us about your beaver,” or “I am interested in your large nuts” never gets old. Sadly only have a series or two left to watch.
Maybe
The 9th Configuration — An insane 70s movie (although released in early 80) set in a military insane asylum where the inmates apparently have access to a Hollywood prop department to enact whatever crazy stuff they want. Written, Produced and Directed by William Blatty (fresh of The Exorcist) so the studios were willing to let him do whatever he wanted. Some great scenes and mostly great but nonsensical dialogue. I had to watch it in chunks. Definitely a noble failure and not a cookie cutter movie.
Grantchester — A Masterpiece Mystery that is definitely ripping off Father Brown1. (Except that the priest is Anglican? Church of England? In any case, Not Catholic and it’s post WW-II instead of WW-I). But I like Father Brown and this is close enough for me. But as the series goes on it gets less about the mystery of the week and more about the main character(s) being miserable, and lost a fair chunk of the joy2. (Netflix only has the first four of the ten(!) seasons).
In the Mouth of Madness — A (90s) rewatch of which I remembered almost nothing. Attempts to capture Lovecraftian dread, but the execution isn’t quite there. Some genuinely creepy moments but also too reliant on “repeated dream awakenings” and re-used footage. Amazing to think that John Carpenter did this a decade after The Thing, because the monster effects are a step down; less is more would have been so much better here3. But …. any schlock horror movie is elevated by David Warner & Jürgen Prochnow looks very anti-christ-like. Clever ending, but “ah, that’s clever” clever instead of a gut punch. I think it works better if you simply lop off the last few minutes.4
The Long Kiss Goodnight — (90s Rewatch, pt II). Shane Black makes another Shane Black movie. Action movie? Check! Partners who don’t like each other? Check! Banter? Christmastime? Checkity Check! Sadly this isn’t up the the heights that Lethal Weapon started, but its not bad.
Nobody Wants This (S2) — A reasonable ‘comfort food’ romcom/sitcom. Sometimes veers into cringe, but it understands that a romcom/sitcom must be funny (and heartwarming) so that both Mr. and Mrs. Tao will watch.
Under the Skin (book) — Read this after watching the movie (see Sep-Oct). Good, but in a very different way (books can show inner monologues, movies are visual). I think that the near silence of the movie was a good choice, but that necessitated changing the story to make it much more ambiguous. Note — Not for the squeamish.
Wick is Pain — Documentary on the John Wick Franchise. Reasonable if you liked the franchise. What impressed me was seeing stunts that I said “Obvious CGI” in the theater and then discovering that the CGI was only for the environment, not the stunt itself, which was real. (The building fall at the end of John Wick 2)
Maybe Not
Turned Off / Not Recommended
“Oh, Hi!” — I saw this recommended by Marginal Revolution. The plot is that a young couple go on a weekend vacation, find some bondage equipment, he gets tied up and (after sex) reveals that he doesn’t consider this a serious relationship, at which point she leaves him tied up and tries to convince him that she is girlfriend material. BUT nobody is sympathetic. She’s crazy. (It’s established that she considered stabbing her last boyfriend). “Leave him tied up” isn’t played for laughs, and isn’t funny. On the other hand, she’s right. You don’t go on a weekend trip alone after dating for four months and expect her to think it’s a fling. In Re: “Crazy girl” vs “Idiot Boy” I find both guilty. Turned off at the 30 minute mark (or less), tried to continue a few times. Failed. Now re-reading Marginal Revolution I realized that “better than expected retelling of…” isn’t necessarily an endorsement.5
Tenet — This finally showed up on streaming and … man; was Christopher Nolan trolling us the entire time6? “What if I just didn’t have a plot at all, but did as much cool stuff as possible?” Turned off before the hour mark; tried again and couldn’t get through another few minutes. It’s like a Bond movie with truly excellent set pieces and locations. (Off-brand Bond but not skimping on quality). Plus Time-travel special effects. But when you break it open it’s just Nelson Munz “Hah hah!”-ing you, the sucker audience.
OK, its an actual series of books on its own that started a few years ago, and the author’s father was formerly the Archbishop of Canterbury, but still … ︎
After finishing season 4 I realize that part of that was the requirements to switch the lead actors. ︎
Such as the people in an oil painting moving. If they never moved on camera and if you thought they had but weren’t sure, it would have been creepier. ︎
For example — Sam Neill’s character “sees” the carnage in the hallway (a ‘less is more shot’, where you see vague shadows and hear screams), realizes the door keeping him the sanitarium is busted … and then chooses to retreat to his room & close the door. ︎
But then I see it’s on his years best film list, so uh, whatever. ︎
No, mostly he’s pretty good. I guess this was just a misfire. ︎
Via Marginal Revolution: We are repaganizing (in a Christian Magazine …. discusses Christianity, Abortion, Infanticide, Peter Singer, Medically Assisted Suicide and Paganism)
The Zvi’s thoughts on AI during the Winter Solstice — We will win.
Was there a second starting point of life that formed 1 cm long beings and died out on Earth 2B years ago? As always, Betteridge’s law looms large, but …. Possibly.
“Imagine that you’re much smarter than me, and I also party all the time and abuse drugs while you live a completely sober lifestyle. If I end up more economically successful than you are, you need to look inward and ask what you’re doing wrong. That is the situation of East Asia relative to the US and Europe.” Human Capital, Not Industrial Policy.
A 4th Chinese Poem constructed in a 29×29 grid of characters (similar to a magic square) palindromic poem that produces 4,000 sub poems (that rhyme and are coherent) depending on how the subsections are combined & read. Written (Embroidered, actually) by a 21 year old to woo back her husband, who had left her for a concubine. (“At the center a single character she left implied but unwritten: 心 (xin) – “heart.” Later copyists would add it explicitly, but in Su Hui’s original the meaning was even more beautiful: 4,000 poems, all orbiting the space where her heart used to be.”) A nice introduction (Twitter) . Wikipedia Page.
Feral Historian discusses The Doomed City, a soviet SF novel (published after Perestroika) and uses footage from Dark City1 because they share themes. In fact, after seeing the video, Dark City seems to clearly rip off The Doomed City’s “Experiment” and motifs, but Wikipedia does not show a link.
Video Game Trailer that I watched on a whim, and was delighted to find it giving off “Iron Giant” vibes. Coven of the Chicken Foot.
Via Marginal Revolution: We are repaganizing (in a Christian Magazine …. discusses Christianity, Abortion, Infanticide, Peter Singer, Medically Assisted Suicide and Paganism)
The Zvi’s thoughts on AI during the Winter Solstice — We will win.
Was there a second starting point of life that formed 1 cm long beings and died out on Earth 2B years ago? As always, Betteridge’s law looms large, but …. Possibly.
“Imagine that you’re much smarter than me, and I also party all the time and abuse drugs while you live a completely sober lifestyle. If I end up more economically successful than you are, you need to look inward and ask what you’re doing wrong. That is the situation of East Asia relative to the US and Europe.” Human Capital, Not Industrial Policy.
A 4th Chinese Poem constructed in a 29×29 grid of characters (similar to a magic square) palindromic poem that produces 4,000 sub poems (that rhyme and are coherent) depending on how the subsections are combined & read. Written (Embroidered, actually) by a 21 year old to woo back her husband, who had left her for a concubine. (“At the center a single character she left implied but unwritten: 心 (xin) – “heart.” Later copyists would add it explicitly, but in Su Hui’s original the meaning was even more beautiful: 4,000 poems, all orbiting the space where her heart used to be.”) A nice introduction (Twitter) . Wikipedia Page.
Feral Historian discusses The Doomed City, a soviet SF novel (published after Perestroika) and uses footage from Dark City1 because they share themes. In fact, after seeing the video, Dark City seems to clearly rip off The Doomed City’s “Experiment” and motifs, but Wikipedia does not show a link.
Video Game Trailer that I watched on a whim, and was delighted to find it giving off “Iron Giant” vibes. Coven of the Chicken Foot.
Recently broke 50 (FTF) games of 1846 … I counted all of 18xx for one entry for my 50 by 50 project, which was kind of a cheat (I suspect I have 50 plays of 1830, but most of them before I started logging), but not I definitely have two titles with 50+ plays, as 1862 was already past.
So if I ever do a sixty by sixty a) I’d only need to add 10+ plays to 51 odd games and b) someone shoot me.
Played another game of Moon Colony Bloodbath. Still indifferent, but fine in a once in a while kind of way. Unlike my first game (where everyone survived until the “end game” event) this one ended with two players losing on the same turn, with the winner having one surviving colonist, presumably with a harmonica.
Played Knarr. It was fine. Actually, I was pleased with game, which packs a reasonable number of decisions into a quick time. But the obvious strategy I tried won easily my first time playing, so I’m not sure there’s much depth. So — Indifferent but might play again. It keeps showing up to game night ….
As per my “No prototypes at conventions rule1” I haven’t played Dark Pact, but its Tom Lehmann and appears to be an autobuy when I see it. Not sure any other games coming recently/soon are.
So, open thread …. what are you getting for Christmas (or slightly later).
Although these days its really more of a guideline. ︎
Recently broke 50 (FTF) games of 1846 … I counted all of 18xx for one entry for my 50 by 50 project, which was kind of a cheat (I suspect I have 50 plays of 1830, but most of them before I started logging), but not I definitely have two titles with 50+ plays, as 1862 was already past.
So if I ever do a sixty by sixty a) I’d only need to add 10+ plays to 51 odd games and b) someone shoot me.
Played another game of Moon Colony Bloodbath. Still indifferent, but fine in a once in a while kind of way. Unlike my first game (where everyone survived until the “end game” event) this one ended with two players losing on the same turn, with the winner having one surviving colonist, presumably with a harmonica.
Played Knarr. It was fine. Actually, I was pleased with game, which packs a reasonable number of decisions into a quick time. But the obvious strategy I tried won easily my first time playing, so I’m not sure there’s much depth. So — Indifferent but might play again. It keeps showing up to game night ….
As per my “No prototypes at conventions rule1” I haven’t played Dark Pact, but its Tom Lehmann and appears to be an autobuy when I see it. Not sure any other games coming recently/soon are.
So, open thread …. what are you getting for Christmas (or slightly later).
Although these days its really more of a guideline. ︎
I mentioned Feral Historian last month …. his video on Buckaroo Banzai pointed out something that I’d never noticed (despite many rewatches, including one during Covid): It is a Cold War Allegory. The Red and Black Lectroids fight using proxies, but the proxies are the US (via Buckaroo) and the rest of Earth. The US is forced into the war by the “good” side threatening nuclear annihilation unless they are appeased.
Google is no longer avoiding evil (as per their original slogan), but still sometimes does good (or at least tries). Google aggressively going after text messaging scammers. Also, I didn’t realize that private parties could bring RICO suits.
Good news — Scientist have figured out how super recognizers are able to distinguish faces with such accuracy. Bad news (same article) — it seems to be at the retinal encoding stage, not something you can learn. More Bad News — You can’t learn it, but computers can. (Then again, since that particular genie is out of the bottle, at least it may prevent the number of false accusations based on bad facial recognition that have made the news).
Also Marginal Revolution — UC San Diego students (many of whom got As and Bs the entire way, including pre-calc and calc) can’t do elementary school math. Seriously, go look at some of the problems and pass rates. Some of these students are trying to be engineers. This is making the rounds. Slashdot story. Actual report from UCSD
If you believe the rare earth hypothesis, then that’s a bad assumption, but ignoring that seems just a reasonable approximation as the Drake Equation and it doesn’t seem like you need a uniformly equal chance on each planet. I’m sure there’s some math handwaving I’m missing. ︎
I mentioned Feral Historian last month …. his video on Buckaroo Banzai pointed out something that I’d never noticed (despite many rewatches, including one during Covid): It is a Cold War Allegory. The Red and Black Lectroids fight using proxies, but the proxies are the US (via Buckaroo) and the rest of Earth. The US is forced into the war by the “good” side threatening nuclear annihilation unless they are appeased.
Google is no longer avoiding evil (as per their original slogan), but still sometimes does good (or at least tries). Google aggressively going after text messaging scammers. Also, I didn’t realize that private parties could bring RICO suits.
Good news — Scientist have figured out how super recognizers are able to distinguish faces with such accuracy. Bad news (same article) — it seems to be at the retinal encoding stage, not something you can learn. More Bad News — You can’t learn it, but computers can. (Then again, since that particular genie is out of the bottle, at least it may prevent the number of false accusations based on bad facial recognition that have made the news).
Also Marginal Revolution — UC San Diego students (many of whom got As and Bs the entire way, including pre-calc and calc) can’t do elementary school math. Seriously, go look at some of the problems and pass rates. Some of these students are trying to be engineers. This is making the rounds. Slashdot story. Actual report from UCSD
If you believe the rare earth hypothesis, then that’s a bad assumption, but ignoring that seems just a reasonable approximation as the Drake Equation and it doesn’t seem like you need a uniformly equal chance on each planet. I’m sure there’s some math handwaving I’m missing. ︎
Caylus was one of those games that burrowed into my head and held on for years, although it doesn’t seem like it when you search my archives. That’s because Caylus shares a problem with full information, zero luck games — the best player wins.
And I played perhaps 100 games on BrettSpeilWelt1,2. So in my FTF games I would often take a handicap of 25% (or more, with fewer players) and win. PLUS the no-luck aspect meant that games became somewhat samey.
So I switched to Caylus Magna Carta, which constrains players by their card draws. This comes close to violating my rule stating that “For any original game X,’X: the card/dice game’ is always worse.”
Caylus Magna Carta is certainly much more approachable than Caylus3. I recently acquired Caylus 1303, a re-implementation of the original. It does a number of things well:
Instead of having 4-6 workers and paying $$ for each placement, you have up to 15 workers but pay one worker if nobody has passed and two workers otherwise.
The provost resets to almost the end of the track each round, and there are only nine rounds.
In addition to setup buildings, a random wood and stone building start built.
Each player starts with a special power (drafted in reverse order on the first turn)
One of each building type4 is not available; but can be accessed via the favor system.
You do not need a building to build a monument, they are built in a special phase each turn.
A favor lets you a) steal a special power or b) use a building and take an unclaimed special power if one is available (three start unclaimed each game).
So Caylus 1303 is still a full information, zero luck game … but with a variable setup. I have high hopes that this will help bring it to the table. So far my first game was well received (although I forgot the initial draft of special powers).
The one issue (for some people) is that the favor system has been simplified and one of the favors is “Steal a special power.” This is a direct take-that; it’s not like Caylus had a care bear style, but the attack was more about moving the provost, which is something you can plan for. There are some powers that are much more likely to get stolen, but it would undoubtedly chafe a bit if you lost a power when they “should have” taken a different power. Still, in my first game there was no whining.
Caylus was one of those games that burrowed into my head and held on for years, although it doesn’t seem like it when you search my archives. That’s because Caylus shares a problem with full information, zero luck games — the best player wins.
And I played perhaps 100 games on BrettSpeilWelt1,2. So in my FTF games I would often take a handicap of 25% (or more, with fewer players) and win. PLUS the no-luck aspect meant that games became somewhat samey.
So I switched to Caylus Magna Carta, which constrains players by their card draws. This comes close to violating my rule stating that “For any original game X,’X: the card/dice game’ is always worse.”
Caylus Magna Carta is certainly much more approachable than Caylus3. I recently acquired Caylus 1303, a re-implementation of the original. It does a number of things well:
Instead of having 4-6 workers and paying $$ for each placement, you have up to 15 workers but pay one worker if nobody has passed and two workers otherwise.
The provost resets to almost the end of the track each round, and there are only nine rounds.
In addition to setup buildings, a random wood and stone building start built.
Each player starts with a special power (drafted in reverse order on the first turn)
One of each building type4 is not available; but can be accessed via the favor system.
You do not need a building to build a monument, they are built in a special phase each turn.
A favor lets you a) steal a special power or b) use a building and take an unclaimed special power if one is available (three start unclaimed each game).
So Caylus 1303 is still a full information, zero luck game … but with a variable setup. I have high hopes that this will help bring it to the table. So far my first game was well received (although I forgot the initial draft of special powers).
The one issue (for some people) is that the favor system has been simplified and one of the favors is “Steal a special power.” This is a direct take-that; it’s not like Caylus had a care bear style, but the attack was more about moving the provost, which is something you can plan for. There are some powers that are much more likely to get stolen, but it would undoubtedly chafe a bit if you lost a power when they “should have” taken a different power. Still, in my first game there was no whining.
Merge minors in too fast, leaving your company under capitalized when the permanent train rush starts (because those shares weren’t earning for the company). Unless you need to absorb the minors to handle a train disappearance, they typically earn fine.
(Related) — Too many minors and no privates to bump up company income. Privates are a good way to stuff some money into the company (without taking stock out).
Start your company too early — You get slightly better money at 50% of a minor instead of (say) 40% of a major, but nobody can buy into your minor. “Second mouse gets the cheese.”
Forgetting that the train limit is 2 during brown phase. (aka “Too much 1846 muscle memory“). The solution is to start a minor & buy the locked train1 (and infuse extra cash into your company). It can be worth taking a big hit on paper (since you lose value if you par the company over $200) because if you don’t your company is going to back up anyway and you’ll still eat the $$$ out of pocket.
Not noticing that a minor can open and block your connection — Particularly early in phase 2 a minor can start before your minor goes without losing any value2 to put down a critical lumber space (or even just a yellow3), typically in the second OR of the batch (the first to take their home, the second to block).
Not adjusting your bids to the presence of blockers — As mentioned in the last comments, you want to up your certificate count. But if a ‘bad’ minor4 is coming up in the next round, there is going to be one less cert available next round, which means that next rounds auctions will be bid up a bit more …. which means (since you can see it coming) you should be willing to bid up this round (either to win or at least drain some money out before next round).
(In the mid/end game) Placing bids before snapping up the juiciest stock shares.
The problem is noticing during the OR, instead of during the SR … when you could have corrected it. ︎
Typically bidding 140 so as to buy and L and upgrade it automatically, which lets the company start at 70, which will be before all the companies opened in SR1 if they had <= 3 ORs ︎
Since you won’t be able to upgrade to green until phase 3, which can be a delay of several ORs. ︎
Usually a regional (in PNW) when it’s too early; but also a minor that won’t be able to merge in time ︎
I’ve been thinking about this for 1822(MX, PNW, etc): How much is running your minor for an extra Operating Round (at the beginning of the game) worth?
For simplicity — Let’s assume that all the minors are identical1. They will run for $30 (20+10) with an ‘L’ train and $40 (20+20) with a ‘2’. So getting your minor in an earlier stock round is worth at least $15 more. After all, you will get one extra round of payment ($15), plus the company will also pocket $15 more. Additionally you will also make the jump from $15 to $20 one OR earlier; but as Barbie says “Discount rates are hard, let’s go shopping for rolling stock.”
Any company requires 3 ORs to convert it’s ‘L’ to a ‘2’ (The company has $40 after purchasing a train, and keeps $15, so $55 after 1 OR, $70 after 2 ORs, and $85 after 3 ORs, which lets it convert). But that assumes that you have time before the L-trains rust. Starting in SR 1 will be fine, SR 2 should be fine, SR 3 is a bit touchy and depends how many trains are exported. But we can safely say the longer you wait, the bigger the risk of losing the ‘L’, which is presumably catastrophic and (at a minimum) a waste of money.
(Minors started after the first ‘2’ comes out can keep extra money over the $100 minimum bid, which mitigates the risk, but also costs the president extra money anyway).
Other benefits:
The extra OR means one extra track build (or building cube) to head towards a concession/associated minor/destination/anything of interest. This build could also be aimed at annoying other nearby minors before they start, but we’ll focus on positive goals.
Minor companies always move up in stock price, which means they will be worth more when absorbed. This seems more like a positive than negative, but I’d have to think about ’22 MX vs ’22 PNW more concretely.
Your strategy is more “concrete” and crystalized. (This could be a downside as well, but it often isn’t).
You could snap up the concession you want cheaply because its speculative for anyone else.
You might be able to use a private company instantly instead of simply keeping it as potentially useful (you could have a ‘2’ that could attach a pullman, or run an permanent L trains, or use some building cubes/port/special build) and your opponent would get less value from the thing, which might let you win something more cheaply.
There costs are mainly the opportunity cost of any auctions you cannot win (and these can be significant), as well as the loss you take from bidding over face value.
But just labelling these, how much should we see. If we assume a 5p game and 4 starting minors, it is seems clear that they should all have a premium of at least $15, and probably more2.
Similarly, how much should a ‘better’ minor be worth? Let’s assume it simply starts at a $30 city. This is not simply an extra $5 per OR; this minor can upgrade its ‘L’ into a ‘2’ train in 2 ORs instead of three, which will bump it up $10 one OR faster. (There’s that pesky discounting again). So again, this clearly should go for at least $5 more (since you’ll break that even in the first OR), but probably at least $10 or $15 (and maybe much more). It also places later companies more at risk of not upgrading their ‘L’ trains, so the mere fact that this company is in the first SR affects the rest of the companies.
A surprisingly complex problem … still thinking about it.
Assume each carriage is pulled by a perfectly spherical cow. ︎
Since companies could be shared “evenly” with four players, whether there is a premium depends on group think. In theory in 5p only one player might be willing to pay more, which would put them ahead of those who didn’t get a minor in OR 1, but behind those he didn’t bid up. Hmmm.︎
Playing in a club game with a strong expert, I pick up S:8 H: QT8 D: AKJ9765 C: QT. With nobody vulnerable, my RHO opens 1 NT. With our NT defense system, I can double to show a long minor or both major suits1 but that means that if LHO bids partner is in the dark (although likely looking at diamond shortness, so has an educated guess). But I decide to bid 3 Diamonds because a) I have seven good ones, b) it takes up a lot of space, and c) relatively novice opponents. Even if I am in trouble they might not double me or let me make it (or they might go overboard). I kind of wish I didn’t have both the other queen-ten combinations, those might be just enough defense to stop them from making whatever game they’d get to if I passed (while not helping my diamond contract much), and I’d be turning a small positive into a small negative
This goes back to RHO who bids 3 Spades, which is the final contract. See point ‘C’ above.
I lead the diamond king (king from AK in this partnership) and see the following dummy:
S: Axx H: J9xx D: Q2 C: 87xx
LHO has made a good pass, despite having a great fit. She didn’t forget the earlier auction and even if RHO has a 17 count with 5 spades, game is still unlikely. I cash the King and Ace of diamonds, everyone else following and partner signaling a doubleton. (I already knew that, as diamonds are 7=2=2=2 around the table; but from her perspective I might have only had six diamonds and would need to know).
What else do I know? Almost nobody opens 1NT with a six card major, so I’m fairly certain that diamonds (edit: spades) are 1=3=4=5 around the table (partner having four). That’s nice. I have 12 points, Dummy has 7, Declarer has 15-17 and probably the top end. So that leaves 4-6 HCP for partner. Not much.
After mulling it over for a bit, I think the right play is to give declarer a ruff and sluff. This is usually one of the first things a novice learns NOT to do, as it’s almost always a free trick. But I’m not sure it will be. But let’s check the alternatives.
Leading a trump will no doubt annoy partner and likely destroy a trick. Leading a heart with the jack in dummy is scary. Declarer could easily have AKx of hearts. Leading a club from QT seems like suicide. Sure, leading from either queen could work if I hit lucky, but I’m blind as to where partners points are.
And the diamond? If dummy pitches I doubt declarer will be ruffing a fourth round (which would be a winner in any case) and declarer would risk losing control. And if dummy ruffs (as expected) partner should be able to read the situation and know if she needs to over ruff or go passive. Partner is a true expert and I’ve already made several undiscussed auctions, but things I think that are matters of bridge logic or “any expert will know,” and she’s caught them all.
I lead the diamond jack. Partner would have a tough choice on whether to over-ruff since she actually had J9xx of trump (and the club ace), but declarer pitches a club and ruffs in hand. (See point ‘c’ above again). Declarer then plays trumps incorrectly (with KQTx opposite Axx, play the King then the ace to reveal if you need to finesse the fourth round), setting up partners jack and then plays the AK and a small heart. At this point I can win and run diamonds. Declarer ruffs in, but that’s her last trick. Down two.
But it does look like the ruff and sluff is the only way to guarantee down one (assuming partner over-ruffs dummy).
Later I pick up S: Q H: J9543 D: J9753 C: QJ. RHO deals and everyone is vulnerable. RHO opens 1 Spade. I have the right shape for a Michaels cue bid, but not nearly enough winners, so I pass. LHO makes a 2 Diamonds bid and RHO bids 3 Clubs. Interesting. To step into a live (game forcing) auction at the three level partner must have a monster club suit. RHO bids 3 hearts. I could compete with 4 clubs, but honestly even giving partner 7 club tricks my hand only adds maybe a spade ruff and in any case …. so far I’d love to defend a red suit. Where are the spades? I pass.
LHO bids 4 Spades, showing a minimum game force with diamonds. Everyone passes and I’m certainly not going to bid five clubs now after partner has told me what to lead. I lead the club queen and dummy hits with
S: Kxx H: Axx D: KQT8x C:xx
Partner overtakes my club queen with the king and continues with the ace, and everyone follows. Partner considers this for a few seconds and then puts down the ten of clubs. Declarer ruffs with six (point C applies in this round, too) and I ruff with the queen and dummy ruffs with the king.
At this points trumps are
Dummy 32
Me -- Partner J956
Declarer AT87
Declarer has two reasonable lines: Assume I started with QJ tight and play the ace then the ten of spades, or take the deep finesse of the eight cross back to dummy and repeat and then run the diamonds for a trump coup to pick up trumps for no losers (and that has some other complications).
Partner’s ruff-and-sluff was also the right play … declarer only had winners (outside of the trump suit) so the ruff-and-sluff would not let declarer pitch a loser and removing a small trump from dummy would stop a repeated finesse. In practice declarer over-ruffed with the Spade King then played the trump ace AND lost count. Down four. (“Point C”).
I mention to partner that we’ve both given up a ruff and sluff correctly (albeit on different boards), and she appreciates that is a rare situation.
I literally have no recollection of Endeavor. After writing those words I did search for it in my blog and found a quote:
I’ve now played Endeavour three times. It’s fine, respectable, and I imagine it will be forgotten in a year or two. — Me
So, I’m pleased that my assessment was correct. One point to Ravenclaw! Even looking at the pictures on BGG, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about the game. And — since I was aware that Endeavor had left no mark — I was not particularly interested in trying Endeavor: Deep Sea. But it has been repeatedly getting to the table instead of dying out (like the flash in the pan I suspected it was), so I tried it.
And I’ve got to admit, there a plenty of reasonable ideas. You have simplified tech tracks you want to advance (to get a better selection of workers, more worker discs, and movement for your subs) and you both build the board and fill in the boards. So there is a feeling of growth (as you get more worker types and spots on the board) and shrinking (as you spend your worker discs to claims spots on the board, removing both the disc and the spot). The central board is where players conflict, but a lot of the game is “heads down” managing your tech/discs/workers.
All of which is to say that Endeavour Deep Sea is fine, and respectable. I suspect I won’t forget it quite as quickly (since I’ve had some “Endeavor reinforcement.”) There is nothing “wrong” with it, but it has enough of a point-salad-y scoring that means there is no spark of excitement where it haunts my thoughts.
All these worlds are yours … except Encelades? (Complex Organic Molecules found).
Conversations with Tyler talks to John Amaechi — the (first?) openly gay NBA player on leadership, science, science fiction, being a professor, and consulting. “An overrated idea in current psychology?…. So personality testing, it’s absolute bollocks.”
RIP Paul Chemla (Bridge World Champion) has the great quote — “SEPT CONTRE UN !! SEPT CONTRE UN !! SEPT CONTRE UN !! CHAQUE EPREUVE, CHAQUE MATCH, C’EST SEPT CONTRE UN !!!” (Seven against one, seven against one, seven against one — Every event, every match, it is seven against one!)
I’ve been watching Feral Historian’s video takes on classic SF. I remember Footfall coming out (remember when books had marketing campaigns?), and remembered almost nothing of the story (except the ending, and that it was the SF equivalent of a big network miniseries — too many characters, too long). I don’t agree throughout. but its interesting. “Footfall and Cultural Blindspots.” Also interesting was video opening with a quote from Isaac Asimov “They asked me to do a screen adaptation (of I, Robot) and, of course, I refused. So they did an extraordinarily intelligent thing. They got Harlan Ellison to do it.”
A fair amount of this media was consumed on vacation (either on International Flights or while travelling) and some of the things I watched were because there weren’t many options.
Recommended
The Diplomat (S3) — The episodes ride the “West Wing Long Arc” Vibe train as far as it can go …. (I never mentioned Season 2, but it also tugged on the West Wing Fan Service rope until the butler answered).
The Great British Baking Show — Watching the newest season, never seen it before. There is something wonderful about the old school British show style of “people who are very good at what they do, doing it, with nothing but pride at stake.”
The Perfect Neighbor — A documentary mainly via police body cam footage of the escalation between neighbors that eventually leads to a shooting and death. Not an easy watch, but also one of the more compelling documentaries I’ve seen (mainly because most documentaries are just “talking heads” and “stock images” while this is almost all “found footage” and no narrator to tell you what to think).
Sinners — I had high expectations, and this didn’t live up to them; but it was still good and even if it had been worse I think it would have been a noble failure. Discussing why it didn’t live up to it would involve spoilers. Also, the “One Day Earlier” caption made me sigh out loud even though I knew it was coming (and totally obvious).
Stop Making Sense (A24 re-release cut from last year) — I’ve watched and recommended the original, and watched the re-release because its a perfect rewatch on a red eye flight (as I’m mainly listening to music). This edit also showed much more of the crew working between (and during) songs, which was nice. Whether you care enough to rewatch is up to you.
Wednesday — I resisted this, figuring it would be derivative and hacky. Derivative? Yes. It’s a sequel, and the plot is a mystery set in a supernatural school. But well done and well acted (although I did not like Luis Guzman’s/Catherine Zeta-Jones as Gomez and Morticia. As they were a bit one-note, but that might have been screen time). Props to Emma Myers for channeling the still-living spirit of Alyson Hannigan for her role as Enid.
Maybe
A House of Dynamite — OK procedural (on the US responding to a rogue nuclear strike). I didn’t like the format (of showing the scene three times in a row from various POVs) and also their view of how the US would respond is … odd. (More would be spoiler-y).
I Like Me — A documentary on John Candy. Seems like a genuinely nice guy.
The Longest Day — OK if you are interested in the topic. Very static & slow, as is typical if B&W films. But a few battle scenes were impressive (state of the very-limited art: long takes with Crane shots). Also I fired up Wikipedia (and Chat GPT) to find the inaccuracies … despite the look it is not a true documentary and embellished a few points.
Sound of Music — I’d never seen this (despite my sister playing it on VHS every day for … possibly years) but it was available to watch on the cruise during a sea-day and Tyler Cowen had recently sung the praises of the 60th anniversary re-release. It drags in the second act, and you already know all the (good) songs, but still of interest. Honestly if you haven’t already seen it, you probably don’t need to, but it was good. A factoid I learned after reading a bit … The Sound of Music’s initial theatrical release in America lasted four and a half years. (” In some cities in the United States, the number of tickets sold exceeded the total population”)
Under the Skin — Weird SF movie that only got made because Scarlett Johansson gets naked. But it’s almost a silent movie … Scarlett is an alien, but speaks only to deceive and lure men to their fate (despite the S.J. nakedness it is a role reversal — she is clearly a predator and males are prey). Almost nothing is explained. Good soundtrack. Good cinematography (the visuals are stunning, and I’m not referring to the nudity). I’m planning on reading the book.
The Verdict — Never seen this, a typical slow burn 70s film (although it was ’82). David Mamet is the screenwriter but the dialogue was not his typical earlier stuff. Solid, though.
Maybe Not
Crime Scene Zero — Another Korean reality/game show (like Devil’s Plan). It’s a Murder Mystery Party where five players (actors?) roleplay the suspects, with another playing the detective (who is not guilty). Great … in theory. The sets are custom built/staged for the murder, have a ton of clues, shows the body, crime scene, etc. (They appear to sometimes have puzzles/activities that can be triggered). Players rush around to uncover more clues. Thankfully, they wear costumes and refer to each other by character name (“Pretty Boy X,” “Village Chief Y”, “Shaman Z”, “Doctor A”) which really lets you follow along.
But the bad: A) Clues are written in Korean. The dub sometimes provides the gist, but some important stuff is missed. B) After evidence gathering there’s a long “everyone gathers to argue/point fingers” and its melodramatic and over-acted (The players sometimes break character, which is often quite funny, though I suspect there are in jokes you’ll miss unless you know who they are). C) The editing suffers the same problem as Devil’s Plan of repeating the same scene three times and being semi-deceptive, which is terrible in a murder mystery. D) The rules of the game aren’t explained until the end of first murder.
Also (at least in the first episode) the amount of complications (both for the guilty and innocent) is ridiculous. There are too many schools of red herrings swimming around. In the real world each innocent (sometimes with air quotes around that word) would already be in jail before the murder was solved.
Each murder takes ~2.5 hours to resolve (split over 2 episodes). I stopped after one mystery, but the idea might be worth it for someone.
Idiocracy — Not good at all, but annoyingly prescient.
The Loneliest Whale — I mean, I finished it, but this is one of those documentaries I mentioned above where it’s talking heads (like the director producer talking about how he is interested in the subject and how he feels) and footage of people setting up to do stuff. And then edited to drag things out. “This movie could have been a one line email.”
Turned off / Not recommended
Companion — Pleased to see this on a long flight, as I’d vaguely wanted to watch it after the trailer, but I turned it off after 15 minutes due to the cringey banter and general lack of interest. If the trailer really interests you it might be worth watching.
Haunted Hotel — Animated series “by the creators1 of Rick and Morty” yet I don’t recognize the name. Seemed like a bog standard sitcom taking advantage of the fact that its animated to have ghosts and stuff and just riffs on existing stuff. (Oh, you have a sassy robot? psycopathic bunny-ear wearing 3rd grader? demonic child!). But it forgot to be funny. Not one laugh in the first fifteen minutes.
The Day The Earth Blew Up — A recent Loony-tunes film (Porky+Daffy) I tried to watch on a flight. A chuckle or two in the first 15 minutes, but no guffaws. I bailed.
The more accurate tag appears to be “A writer of one Rick and Morty episode, but a story editor on an season.” To be fair, it was a good episode and good season … ︎
Anmelden
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